Apparatus for treating explosive powder.



3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patented Feb. 13, 1912.

P. 1. DU PONT.

AEPLIATION FILED MAB. 1, 1909.

APPARATUS FOR TBEATING EXPLOSIVE POWDER.

f'. I. DU PONT'.

APPARATUS POR TREATING EXPLOSIVE POWDER.

APPLIGATION FILED MARJ, 1909.

1,017,286. Patented Feb. 13, 1912.

a' sHBBTssHEBT 2.

F. I. DU PUNT. APPARATUS FOR TREATING BXPLosIVB PQWDBR. APPLIGATMN FILED MAB.. 1, 1909.

fr/6.6. VII/M Patented Feb.13,1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET black powder, when produced by the process UMTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS I. DU PONT, OF-WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, ASSIGNOR TO THE E.` I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS POWDER COMPANY, OE WILMINGTON, IXElIaiAW'ARE,v A CORPORATION l OF NEW JERSEY.

APPAHRATUS FOR TREATING EXPLOSIVE POWOER.

Be it known that I, FRANCIS I. DU PONT,A

a citizen of the United States, residin at Wilmington, county of Newcastle, and tate of Delaware, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Treating Explosive Powder, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification. t

In certain explosive powders, for instance,

of evaporating a mixture ',onsistin ofa solution of one or more of the ingredients with the other ingredients after the evaporation is carried on to a certain point, it 1S desirable to cool the material in or'der to partially solidify the same in order that it may be molded int-o grains or other 'desired shapes, after which the remainder of the solvent can be driven oii'iin any suitable manner. This cooling process has to be carried on -with certain precautions rendered necessary by the tendency of the' dissolved ingredients to :formcrystals and' thereby produce a separation orat least a less intimate lso-mingling of the ingredients one with another in the final produce than is demanded by good practice in manufacturing explosives.

The object of my invention is the production of an apparatus which, vduring the cooling, will give the material such a kneading orworking of one particle in its relation to another, that this crystallization. is deferred as long as possiblev and whenv it finally occurs the crystals, if they exist at all, are so small that the mass resembles an amorphous substance. Itisealso desirabletohave some form of apparatus which will feed the m/aterial out into a uniform sheet orstrip fromwhich grains can be cut. In'general, I accomplishthesetwo' results by the use of my novel apparatus, in which 'the material is forced. forward t-hrough a vessel, the walls of which are directly cooled. In this'vessel a-re arranged a'number of stationary ,blades obliqu`e'i`to the direction in which the material is to travel, and .between each set of these bladesis a set of revolving blades,

also obli 'ue to the direction in which the ...material is to travel.- At the end which re- Specieation of Letters-lplatent.v Applicatin led March 1, 1909. Serial N0` 480,580.

ceives the powder'in its hot or warm condition, the stationary blades approach the position'of being parallel tot-he axis of the vessel, while at the other end where the material is delivered out into a sheet,the stationary blades approach the position of belng at right-ang es to, the axis, and in all cases these stationary blades assume more or less of a propeller-like or helicoidal shape.v These stationary blades decrease in number as the discharging end of the ma chine is approached until at the end there are but two. These are of a helicoidal shape and form a screw whose pitch is about equal to the width of the strip which is being dis- Patenten Feb. 13,191'2.

the helix into both sides of the thick strip which is being thinned down by the rolls. In regard to the revolving propeller Sblades, the opposite vcondition obtains at the end where-the powder is received, thesev having a position more nearly at right-angles to the Aaxis of the vessel, while as the other end is approached their Obliquity changes so that they becomemore nearly parallel to the axis of the vessel. By this arrangement the material as lit enters, -first is conveyed forward bodily without much rotary motion, while as it approaches vthe vother end it revolves around .almost as rapidly as the revolving propeller blades, and it advances much less rapidly. The purpose of this arrangement is to cause the material, which during this walls of the vessel, becoming more Ysolid to of force and to permit its issuing ina strip? like or sheetlike form, instead of in a substantially cylindrical' form, as would have to be the casev if the same Obliquity of\ the blades which obtains at the receiving end of the apparatus were continued .throu' hout its' length. At the discharging end/o the apparatus are arranged a pair of" rollers whosel purpose is to reduce-thesi'ze ofthe strip of material issuing from the apparatus to the .passage is, owing to the .cooling action of the I desired thinness and to determine the even- 1 ness of the flow ofmaterial, that 'is to say, since the surface of the rollers determines the. speed "of the material, a cylindrical 45 Y terior of each `section vf are the blades 2.

' drawings.

VIl() In the drawings: Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view through my improved' apparatus; Fig. 2 is a detail section of connection between sections of casing; Fig. 3

.ver

is a detail section of the delivery rolls; Fig. 4 is a cross section on line 4-*4 Fig. 1 Fig. 5 is a top plan view; Fig. A6 is an elevational View showing the relation of the rotating and xed blades, the rotating blades being shown shaded; Fig. 7 is av perspective view showin a section through a rotating blade; Fig. 8 1s a perspective view showing a section through a fixed blade; Fig. 9 is an inverted plan view of the delivery end; Fig. 10 is an inverted plan View of the bottom rotating blade.

a is the surrounding conical casing having the heads b and c, secured thereto by bolts and the webs d. v

e is a shaft central of the casing a. Surrounded by this casing a is a conical vessel formed of the sections f, which are centered between the webs d. The inlet section f has a flange g to which is secured the lug h, through which and into the webs d the bolts z pass. Keyed to the shaft e is the bevel gear j.` Between this bevel` gear and the head Z) is the ball race k, and between the gear and the iange g isa corresponding bell race Z.

m is a driving-shaft driven by any appropriate means, not shown. Upon this ,shaft m is the bevel gear 0 meshing with the bevel gear j. By these means the shafte is rotated.

Surrounding the shaft e and keyed thereto, are the collars n corresponding innumber and position to the sections f of the conical vessel. Projectingl inward from thev inrIhe angle of the initial set-of blades .a is approaching parallel with the axis of the vessel, this being at the inlet endv of the Vessel. The successive sets of blades z toward the outlet end of the vessel have their angles, with respect to the axis, progressively increasing until at the outlet end they are almost at right angles to the axis of the'vessel. The number of these blades-in the successive series decrease in number until at the outlet end they are two in number. These.` are, as stated before, of a helicoidal shape and form a screw whose pitch is about equal to the width of the strip to be discharged to the rolls s. On the collars n and beyond each set of blades e are projecting blades p which are arranged helically around each other. The angles of these blades at the inlet end are almost at right.

Loizeau ed as before described, and force the powder l along the spiral surface of the inner face of said head c to the orifice or opening r, 1n

line with which, andv exterior ofthe head,

are mounted the rolls s, geared together and driven by means, not shown, the faces of which are of the widthof the desired powder strip. In order to keep the rollers free from any attached material, I use the Wipers 22, which are pressed, against the rolls by the plates 23.

The walls of the sections f are cored, as shown, at tand the cored part of each section is provided'with an orifice in whichis a pipe u to form communication between the cores of contiguous sections. The cooling liquid is admitted through pipe o passing through head c into the cored portion tof the last section j', from which it passes successively through the cored portion of each section, and passes out at the inlet end of the ap aratus through pipe w. Thus the wall oi?? the vessel itself is directly chilled close to the material, which enables the solidifying by cooling to be more eflicientl carried on. Further, the coolest liquid a fects the section at the exit where the materialgis .approaching the desired solidilicalion, and therefore needs the greatest eect through the next set of fixed blades or die z and so on to the exit end Where it is forced between the faces of the rollers, the powder during the whole treatment being subjected to cooling applied directly to the surface ofV the wall of the vessel against which the owder contacts. The powderis thus sub- Je'cted to kneading as the material is solidified to the desired extent by cooling, and all tendencyto crystallization is prevented.

-The walls of the sections f being cored7 result in a light construction. between the sections f and the surrounding .y casing a is quite considerable. Further, the casing a is provided with vents 10. In case of explosion in the vessel rupturing the walls, the produced gases will findready escape through the vent 10. l

Having now fully described myv invenscribed, in combination, a fixed vessel, a

tion, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1.?? In an apparatus of the character and for the purpose described, a vessel, having in its length and onv its interior alternate sets 'of fixed and rotating blades, the angles with respect to the axis, of successive sets of fixed blades increasin and the angles with respect to the axis, o successive sets of rotatingblades decreasing, from the inlet to the exit.

'2. In an apparatus of the character and for thev purpose described, a vessel, having in' its length and on its interior alternate sets of fixed and rotating blades, the angles with respect to the axis, of successive sets of fixed blades increasing and the angles. with respect to the axis, of sucessive sets of rotating blades decreasing, from theinlet to the exit, and the number of fixed blades, in successive/sets, decreasing.

8. In. an apparatus of the character and for the purpose described, a vessel, having in its length and on its interior alternate sets of fixed and rotating blades, the angles with respect to the axis of successive sets of fixed blades increasing and the'angles with respect to the axis of successive sets of rotatin blades decreasing, from the inlet to the exit', the fixed blades at the outlet end forming a screw, there being an outlet in line of action of said screw, and rolls, exterior to the machine, in line with said opening.

4. In an apparatus of the character and -for the purpose described, a vessel, having in its length and in its interior alternate sets of fixed and .'rotating blades, the angles, with respect to the axis of successive sets of fixed blades increasing, and the angles with respect to the axis of successive sets of rotating blades decreasing in angle from the inlet to the exit, each set of fixed and rotating blades being contiguous to each other.

5. -In an apparatus of the character and for the urpose described, in combination, a conicalpvessel having in its length and 'on its interioralternate sets of fixed and rotating blades, the angles with respect to the axis of successive set-s of fixed blades increasing, and the angles with respect to the axis of successive sets of rotating blades decreasing from the inlet to the exlt.

6. In an apparatus of the character and for the purpose described, in combination,

. a. conical vessel having in its length and on,

its interior alternate sets of fixedand rotating blades, the angles with' respect to the axis of successive sets of fixed blades increasing, and the angles with respect to the axis of'successive sets of rotating blades decreasing from the inlet to the exit, each set of fixedv and rotating blades being contiguous to each other.

7. In an apparatus of the character devessel, the angles, with respect to theaxis,

of the sets of fixed blades increasing, and the angles, withv respect to the axis, of the sets of rotating blades decreasing from the inlet to the exit.

8. In an apparatus of the character de- I scribed, in combination, a fixed vessel, a central ,rotating shaft, sets of fixed blades projecting inward from the interior of the vessel, and sets of blades, helically around and projecting outward from said shaft, the sets of fixed and rotating blades alternat-ing wit-h each other in the lengthof'the vessel, the angles, with respect to the axis, of the sets of fixed blades increasing, and theangles, with res ect to the axis, of the sets of rotating bla esdecreasing from the inlet to the exit, and the number of fixed blades, in successive sets, decreasing.

" 9. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a fixed vessel, a-

central rotating shaft, sets of fixed blades projecting inward from the interior of the` vessel, and sets of blades, helicallyaround and projecting outward from said shaft, the sets of fixed and rotating blades alternating 3 with each other 'in the length ofthe vesse the angles, with respect to the axis, of the sets of fixed blades increasing, and the angles, with respect to the axis, of the sets ofv rotating blades decreasing from the inlet to thc'e'xit, the fixed blades at the outlet end forming a Iscrew, there being an outlet in line ofaction of said screw, and rolls exterior to the machine, in line with said open- 1ng.

10. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, afixed vessel, a central rotating shaft, sets vof fixed blades project-ing inward from the interior of the vessel, and sets rrof blades, helically around and projecting outward from said shaft, the sets of fixed and rotating blades alternating with each other in the length of the vessel, the angles, With vrespect to the axis, of the sets ofl fixed blades increasing, and the angles, with respect to the axis, of the sets of rotating blades decreasing from the inlet` to the exit, each set of fixed and rotating blades being contiguous to each other.

11. In an apparatus of the character de scribed, a conical vessel formed of sections,

each section having on its interior a set of projecting blades, a central shaft, sets of blades rotating with said. shaft extending helically around said shaft, and projecting inward from said shaft, said fixed and rotating blades alternating in the length of the las vessel, the angles, with respect to the axis, of the sets of fixed blades increasing, and the angles, with respect tothe axis, of the sets of rotating blades decreasing from the inlet to the exit.

12. ln an apparatus of the character 'described, a conical vessel formed of sections,

each section having onits interior a set of successive sets, decreasing.

13. In an apparatus of the character described, a conical vessel formed of sections,

each section having on its interior a set of projecting blades, a central shaft, sets of blades rotating with said shaft extending helically around said shaft, and projecting inward from said shaft, said fixed and rotating blades alternating in the length of the vessel, the angles, with respect to the axis, of the sets of fixed blades increasing, and the angles, with respect to the axis, of the sets of rotating blades decreasing from the inlet to the exit, the iixed blades at the outlet end forming a screw, there being an outletI in line ofy action of said screw, and rolls exteriorvto the machine, in line with said opening.

14. 1n an apparatus of the character de.- scribed, a conical vessel formed of sections, each section having on its interior a set of projecting blades, a central shaft, sets of blades rotating with said shaft' extending helically around said shaft,and projecting inward from said shaft, said fixed and rotating blades alternating in the length of the vessel, the angles, with respect to the axis, of the sets of fixed blades increasing, and the angles, with' respect to the axis, of the sets of rotating blades decreasing from the inlet to the exit, each set of fixed and rotating blades being contiguous to each other.

15. ln an apparatus of the character and for the purpose described, a vessel, having in its length and in its-interior alternate sets of fixed and rotating blades, the wall of said Vessel being cored, and a liquid inlet and outlet whereby the wall of said vessel close to the interior maybe chilled.

16. In an apparatus of the character and for the purpose described, in combinaiion, a conical vessel having in its length and on its interior alternate sets of fixed and rotating blades, the angles, with respect to the axis, of successive sets of fixed blades increasing, and the angles, with respect to the axis', of successive sets of rotating blades decreasing tomas@ outlet whereby the wall of said Vessel close to the interior may be chilled.

17. In an apparatus of the character and 4for the purpose described, in combination, a

conical vessel having in its length and on its interior alternate sets of fixed and rotating--v` blades, the angles, with respect to the axis, of successive sets of fixed blades increasing, and the angles, with respect to the axis, of successive sets of rotating blades decreasing from the inlet to the exit, each set of fixed and rotating blades being contiguous to each other, the wall of said vessel being cored, a liquid inlet and outlet .whereby the wall of said vessel close to the interior may be chilled. i

18. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a fixed vessel, a central rotating shaft, sets of fixed blades projecting inward from the interior of the vessel, and sets of blades, helically around and projecting outward from said shaft, the sets of fixed and rotating blades alternating with each other in the length of the vessel, the wall of said vessel being cored, and a liquid inlet and outlet whereby the wall of said vessel close to the interior may be chilled.

19. In an apparatus of the character de scribed, in combination, a fixed vessel, a cen-- tral 'rotating shaft, sets of fixed blades proj ecting inward from thel interior of the Vessel, and sets of blades, helically around and projecting outward from said shaft, the sets of xed and rotating blades alternating with 1 each other in the length of the vessel, each set of fixed and rotating blades being contiguous to each other, the wall of said vessel being cored, and a liquid inlet and outlet whereby the wall of said vessel close to the interior may be chilled.

20. laan apparatus of the character described, a conical vessel formed of sections, each section having on its interior a set of projecting blades, a central shaft, sets of blades rotating with said shaft extending helically around said shaft, and projecting inward from said shaft, said fixed and ro- A tating blades alternating in the length of the vessel, the wall of said vessel being cored, and a liquid inlet and outlet whereby the wall of said vessel close to the interior may be chilled.

21. ln an apparatus of the character described, a conical vessel formed of sections, each section having in its interior a set of projecting blades, a central shaft,l sets of blades rotating with `said shaft extending helically around said shaft, and projecting inward from said shaft, said xed and rotating blades alternating in the length of the vessel, each set of fixed and rotating blades being contiguous to each other, the wall of said vessel being cored, and a liquid inlet and outlet whereby the wall of said vessel close to the interiormay be chilled.

22. In an apparatus of the character and for the purpose described, incombination, a conical vessel having-in its length and on its interior'alternate sets ot' fixed and rotating v blades, a surrounding easing having webs to which webs said vessel is secured.

23. In an apparatus of the character and for the purpose described, a vessel, having in its length and on its interior alternate sets of fixed and rotating` blades, a surrounding casing having Webs to which webs said vessel is secured.

24. In an apparatus` of the character described, in combination, a vessel, a central rotating shaft, sets of fixed blades projecting inward from` the" interior of the vessel, and sets of blades, helieally around and projecting outward from said shaft, the sets of fixed and rotating blades alternating Witheaeh other in the length of the vessel, a surround ing casing having Webs to which Webs said, vessel is secured.

25. In an apparatus of the character des scribed, a conical vessel formed of sections,

each section having on its interior-a set of proJectlng blades, a central shaft, sets of vhelically around said shaft, and projecting inward from said shaft, said fixed and rotating blades alternating in the length of the in the inner face of said head `leading to said orifice.

on this 26th day of February, 1909.

FRANCIS I. DUh PONT.

Witnesses:

WM. STANIAR, GORDON L. NAYLOR.

In testimony of Which invention, I- have hereunto set my hand, at Wilmington, Del.,

blades rotating with said shaft extending vessel, a surrounding casing having webs to 4 which webs said vessel 1s secured.

ous to said head, there being a spiral groove 

